What’s the key to effective learning? One intriguing body of research suggests a rather riddle-like answer: It’s not just what you know. It’s what you know about what you know.

To put it in more straightforward terms, anytime a student learns, he or she has to bring in two kinds of prior knowledge: knowledge about the subject at hand (say, mathematics or history) and knowledge about how learning works. Parents and educators are pretty good at imparting the first kind of knowledge. We’re comfortable talking about concrete information: names, dates, numbers, facts. But the guidance we offer on the act of learning itself—the “metacognitive” aspects of learning—is more hit-or-miss, and it shows.

In our schools, “the emphasis is on what students need to learn, whereas little emphasis—if any—is placed on training students how they should go about learning the content and what skills will promote efficient studying to support robust learning,” writes John Dunlosky, professor of psychology at Kent State University in Ohio, in an article just published in American Educator. However, he continues, “teaching students how to learn is as important as teaching them content, because acquiring both the right learning strategies and background knowledge is important—if not essential—for promoting lifelong learning.”

“Teaching students how to learn is as important as teaching them content.”

Research has found that students vary widely in what they know about how to learn, according to a team of educational researchers from Australia writing last year in the journal InstructionalScience. Most striking, low-achieving students show “substantial deficits” in their awareness of the cognitive and metacognitive strategies that lead to effective learning—suggesting that these students’ struggles may be due in part to a gap in their knowledge about how learning works.

Teaching students good learning strategies would ensure that they know how to acquire new knowledge, which leads to improved learning outcomes, writes lead author Helen Askell-Williams of Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. And studies bear this out. Askell-Williams cites as one example a recent finding by PISA, the Programme for International Student Assessment, which administers academic proficiency tests to students around the globe, and place American students in the mediocre middle. “Students who use appropriate strategies to understand and remember what they read, such as underlining important parts of the texts or discussing what they read with other people, perform at least 73 points higher in the PISA assessment—that is, one full proficiency level or nearly two full school years—than students who use these strategies the least,” the PISA report reads.

In their own study, Askell-Williams and her coauthors took as their subjects 1,388 Australian high school students. They first administered an assessment to find out how much the students knew about cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies—and found that their familiarity with these tactics was “less than optimal.”

Students can assess their own awareness by asking themselves which of the following learning strategies they regularly use (the response to each item is ideally “yes”):

• I draw pictures or diagrams to help me understand this subject.

• I make up questions that I try to answer about this subject.

• When I am learning something new in this subject, I think back to what I already know about it.

• I discuss what I am doing in this subject with others.

• I practice things over and over until I know them well in this subject.

• I think about my thinking, to check if I understand the ideas in this subject.

• When I don’t understand something in this subject I go back over it again.

• I make a note of things that I don’t understand very well in this subject, so that I can follow them up.

• When I have finished an activity in this subject I look back to see how well I did.

• I organize my time to manage my learning in this subject.

• I make plans for how to do the activities in this subject.

Askell-Williams and her colleagues found that those students who used fewer of these strategies reported more difficulty coping with their schoolwork. For the second part of their study, they designed a series of proactive questions for teachers to drop into the lesson on a “just-in-time” basis—at the moments when students could use the prompting most. These questions, too, can be adopted by any parent or educator to make sure that children know not just what is to be learned, but how.

• What is the topic for today’s lesson?

• What will be important ideas in today’s lesson?

• What do you already know about this topic?

• What can you relate this to?

• What will you do to remember the key ideas?

• Is there anything about this topic you don’t understand, or are not clear about?

It’s been known for a long time that material must be logically structured for effective learning. For example; it is useful to direct students to the ‘Table of Contents’ so that they see the development (structure) of a theme.
I always told my students to think of their brains as a filing cabinet. – If you throw stuff in randomly, when you need it, it’s almost impossible to locate. If you file it away carefully with like material on the topic, you can find it immediately.
Learning must connect to something that the student already knows or feels. If not, it won’t be absorbed.

The whole idea of teaching the benefits of Metacognition isn’t new but I agree that there needs to be a stronger focus. My struggling students often see themselves as “dumb” or less capable than other kids. Once they realize there are concrete strategies they can use to increase their learning it’s like a whole new world opens up to them. We must begin to show kids that there are tools to use to be successful as a student. It also speaks to the value of Think Alouds. Sharing what an expert reader does while trying to access complex text is one of the most powerful messages you can share with your students. They often assume that they don’t have the right “brain” (words from a student in a learning journal). Think Alouds and a focus on metacognition all us to show students that they can all be great learners.
What I don’t understand is why we don’t address this issue early on?

crystal.underwood

I see the same thing with my students. It seems like they should have been taught how to learn and the importance of strategies at an earlier age. I teach 6th grade math and they genuinely do not know where to begin in respect to solving problems (numerical or verbal). We have 8 math practices that they must learn and attempt to identify with that seem to help a little. However, by 6th grade they are already discouraged. I think that teaching the students how to ask themselves these questions, inquiring and reflecting on what they already know is crucial. Not only do we have to teach it at an early age, we must model what it looks like to learn.

Beside all those studying and learning, I think kids at this age should have some well deserved rest and have fun too! Why not check this outing planner out to plan fabulous outing for your kids.
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Outing Planner

Kevin Hewitson

This topic has been my focus as a teacher for almost 15 years and more recently as a researcher. What I have come up with moves past learning styles or teaching styles and focuses on understanding learning needs. The key word here is understanding. Once I reached this point and analysed those who were successful in different learning environments, some of which I could describe as “toxic”, then it became clear to me that some learners are more able in managing their learning environment to meet their own learning needs than others. This shifts the focus from how materials are taught to the learner being able to manage the learning environment. The term I use to describe this ability is “Learning Intelligence” or LQ and I have written a number of articles about it as well as employing the principles behind LQ in both teaching and coaching learners (including adults) with great success. You can find the original article here: http://4c3d.wordpress.com/2013/08/11/learning-quotient/

As you can see there is quite a range of topics. I have been publishing a new article each week and I will continue doing this for the next month or so.

I do believe that LQ is the binding principle that brings together what we know about learning and have experienced as teachers and learners. If it is something you are interested in then please look at the link and articles and leave a comment – even if you disagree with me because a challenge helps refine and develop all ideas.

Very good Article. Students need to understand the concept behind the questions and its uses that help student to clear their logics. I am learning at http://www.libertyoflearning.com and getting classes daily for My Math, Science and English study classes requirement

Very nice article, covered every important point. We should try to make study interesting. Regular study with proper timetable is best idea to be in touch of books but fun and game should also introduce in this time table. Diagrammatic study is one of the best way to make interest in study. I also use this technique in my teaching and effect will also show in CBSE Board 10th Class Result.

Despite being thought of as a later skill I find that some Metacognition can be taught amazingly early. Pre-school and kindergarten children often automatically role play or draw what they watch or read about. For example if they draw dinosaurs after reading books and watching documentaries about dinosaurs they can be explicitly told “Wow I like to way your are drawing the dinosaurs we saw on the TV/read in the book. Tell me about what you have drawn. Can you tell me again so I can write it on your picture. Now when we look at your picture we will remember what we learnt in the Dinosaur book/program. Great work!”

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Good article! I’m
not too sure if this would be a school “subject” though or something we
should be teaching children way before school age…it’s the way they
learn about their world, their own mind, themselves!